UCD College of Social Sciences and Law is delighted to celebrate the election of Professor Joanna Brück (UCD School of Archaeology) as an International Fellow of the British Academy. Today, 92 distinguished scholars have been elected to the British Academy’s Fellowship, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the humanities and social sciences. Election to an International Fellowship is the highest honour that the Academy confers on non-UK residents in recognition of scholarly distinction.
Professor Joanna Brück of UCD School of Archaeology is a leading scholar of the European Bronze Age and has published widely, including her book Personifying Prehistory: Relational Ontologies in Bronze Age Britain and Ireland. She is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and currently holds an ERC Advanced Grant for her project Animals and Society in Bronze Age Europe. She has also conducted ground-breaking research on the archaeology of the Irish revolutionary period.
Commenting on her award, Professor Brück said: “I am delighted to have been elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy and I feel immensely honoured that my work has been recognised in this special way. I look forward to working with colleagues in Britain, Ireland and further afield to support the discipline of archaeology and to advocate for its crucial role in understanding the complexity and diversity of the human experience past, present and future.”
The new Fellows of the British Academy represent a broad spectrum of expertise from the study of twentieth-century music and the structural causes of poverty to environmental law and the neuroscience of memory, language, and cognition. This year’s cohort sees an increased number of UK Fellows elected, due to new Fellowship places for candidates whose research spans more than one discipline. They join a community of over 1,800 scholars who share a commitment to advancing the humanities and social sciences.
In total, 58 new Fellows have been elected from 25 universities across UK, alongside 30 International Fellows from universities in the United States, Ireland, South Africa, Singapore, China, Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, and Cyprus. Four Honorary Fellows have also been elected in recognition of their exceptional achievements in music, art, journalism and librarianship.
President of the British Academy Professor Susan J Smith said: “One of my first acts as the incoming President of the British Academy is to welcome this year’s newly elected Fellows. What a line-up! With specialisms ranging from the neuroscience of memory to the power of music and the structural causes of poverty, they represent the very best of the humanities and social sciences. They bring years of experience, evidence-based arguments and innovative thinking to the profound challenges of our age: managing the economy, enabling democracy, and securing the quality of human life.
“This year, we have increased the number of new Fellows by nearly ten percent to cover some spaces between disciplines. Champions of research excellence, every new Fellow enlarges our capacity to interpret the past, understand the present, and shape resilient, sustainable futures. It is a privilege to extend my warmest congratulations to them all.”
See the full list newly elected Fellows at (opens in a new window)www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news.